IS hawks fish to make up for lower oil income

The Islamic State (IS) is into retailing to offset the losses incurred due to air strikes from US-led coalition, say Iraqi judicial authorities. According to the security experts, the Islamist terror group has earned million of dollars a month through its new business ventures like selling fish and car dealership.

It is estimated that their income has come to an all time low ever since the US-led coalition targeted its financial infrastructure by focussing air attacks on oil extracting spots. This has severely affected the terror outfit’s oil refining capacity and ability to export it other territories.

According to the experts, this set back in the oil business is the reason behind IS finding new ways of income like imposing taxes on chickens and fish farming.

“The terrorists’ current financing mechanism has changed in the past two years. After the armed forces took control of several oil fields the Daesh devised non-traditional ways of paying its fighters and financing its activities,”Judge Jabbar Abid al-Huchaimi said in a report.

According to him, the terror group has shifted its financial centre to provinces in northern Bagdad. The group has also imposed agricultural taxes in its own territories.

“In the recent period, Daesh has gone back to using government factories in the areas it controls – like Mosul – for financial returns,” the judge added.